Florida prosecutor Andrew Warren vows to return after being suspended by ‘King DeSantis’

On Aug. 4, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis ordered Hillsborough County State Attorney Andrew Warren to be removed from office. The decision came after Warren, who had been reelected in 2020, said he would refuse to prosecute cases involving abortion or children’s gender-related surgeries, issues on which the ambitious governor has crusaded in recent months. Warren joins Yahoo News Senior White House Correspondent Alexander Nazaryan to discuss his reaction to his removal from office and what he plans to do about it.

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ALEXANDER NAZARYAN: When he dismissed you, DeSantis called you a woke prosecutor. Now, you look very woke. But are you a woke-- what does that mean? Can you just explain what a woke prosecutor is?

ANDREW WARREN: I don't know. You'll have to ask the government what he meant by that. I mean, I'm a prosecutor who's been trying to build a 21st century criminal justice system with a focus on public safety, and fairness, and justice. And it's worked. I mean, you look at our crime rate here-- the lowest in the Tampa Bay area, the lowest of any county of our size in the state.

It's gone down every year since I've been in office. So I don't know what the governor means by a woke prosecutor. But if he's talking about success and keeping our neighborhoods safe, then, yes, I fit that definition.

ALEXANDER NAZARYAN: Do you think he's trying to stoke culture wars by using that kind of rhetoric to talk about and the work you're doing?

ANDREW WARREN: I think this is all about the governor's presidential ambitions. He is not focused on the issues that matter to people in Florida. He's not focused on the kitchen table issues about, how do we build a stronger economy, and improve our schools, and improve education, and make our environment clean?

He's focused on these culture war issues that most people don't care about, that gets you lots of likes and hits on social media and allows you to be on Fox News talking about what a good job you're doing, but this has nothing to do with the job I'm doing. And it really has nothing to do with helping the people of Florida.

ALEXANDER NAZARYAN: Someone might say, look, you played into his culture war issues by signing on to these statements of conviction and letting him do what I think-- what's not surprising to those of us who've followed him. How would you respond to that?

ANDREW WARREN: Yes. So if you're asking me whether I shouldn't have said something because it upset King DeSantis, I mean, think about the question that you're asking, right? I'm a public official speaking out on issues that are important to my constituency, important to the work that I do. And somehow, I need to fear punishment and retribution because I didn't run it by the king first?

That's not how America works. That's not how democracy works. That's not how elections work.

ALEXANDER NAZARYAN: He would say-- now, to play devil's advocate-- look, we have laws. You may not like the laws about reproductive care or gender reassignment surgery, but these are the laws. These are the rules. And if you're not willing to follow them, it is my job to dismiss you.

ANDREW WARREN: Well, two things. First of all, the governor is talking about upholding the rule of law, but he's violating the most fundamental rule of law in our democracy-- that elections matter, that people's votes matter. That he can't simply throw out the results of an election because he disagrees with me politically. And that's what it is.

You're asking about laws on the books. Well, the 15-week abortion ban in Florida has been held unconstitutional. The transgender health care law doesn't even exist. It's like I'm being accused of robbing a bank, but the governor is acknowledging I didn't take any money and the bank doesn't even exist yet.

ALEXANDER NAZARYAN: I mean, what's next for you? Will you continue to speak out against DeSantis? Will you go into the private sector?

ANDREW WARREN: Oh, no, I'm going to be restored as state attorney. I mean, we're going to go fight this in court. We have an extremely strong case because of the governor's blatant abuse of power here. But this isn't just about me. This isn't about the suspension of one elected official.

This is about trying to overthrow democracy in the state of Florida. And so I can't overstate the significance of this. If the governor can just remove elected officials at will and replace them with his handpicked accomplice and ally, including maybe someone who lost the election, then elections have no meaning. That's why we're fighting back so hard. That's why we must defend democracy now.